NEW DELHI:
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said on Monday that there is no trust deficit between Pakistan and India as far as the upper echelons of the two countries’ leadership is concerned.
Bashir arrived in the Indian capital on Monday evening a day ahead of a meeting with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao.
“There is no trust deficit in so far as the upper echelons at the leadership level is concerned. What we call the trust deficit has to be more clearly understood, I think, basically the effort is to actually build greater understanding, instead of saying that it is a trust deficit, I would say, deepening of understanding,” said Bashir.
The two diplomats will firm up the agenda for talks between Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and her Indian counterpart S M Krishna on Wednesday.
“It is good to be here, back in Delhi, for me personally and for my team. We are here a day ahead to prepare for the foreign ministers’ meeting. The foreign secretary of India was in Islamabad and we have covered some ground and we hope to give the preparations the final touch in the meeting tomorrow,” said Bashir.
“I would say that we have had a good engagement process for the last five or six months and we hope that this will be productive and will lead to a good meeting of the two foreign ministers,” he added.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said that dialogue on Kashmir should not be for the sake of dialogue but should also bear fruitful results.
She had invited Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leaders for a meeting prior to her departure to New Delhi for the Pak-India ministerial level dialogue to be held on July 27. “Pakistan believes in the resolution of Kashmir issue as per wishes of the Kashmiris, in light of UN resolutions,” she said during her meeting with the JKLF leader Yasin Malik at the State Guest House here Monday.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2011.
COMMENTS (4)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Well if there is no trust-deficit then you better get on with the job, don't you think and make some concrete progress? Just solve ONE problem. Just ONE!
Problem is it is not a deficit but a chasm. And a rather wide one at that.
Dispute resolution is the key to the future cooperation and progress of this region. We need to remove these hurdles (Disputes) at our earliest so that we can achieve our true potential.
Atleast future generations of India and pakistan should have healthy competions in Science, Engineering,Technology fields but not in war scenario.
Atleast in future generation, India and Pakistan should have healthy competitions in Trade, Science, Engineering scenario but not in war scenario. West always try to divide and rule as Britishers. We should not give place to them. If we cant solve the Kashmir issue now, let both sides put the issue idle down for a while and continue with our regular work. As year progresses, there will surely a solution for everything.